There are presently a plurality of different types of ball retrieving wireform baskets used in the tennis court environment for holding dozens of balls, utilized by tennis instructors, or just players, to assist in rapid fire training exercises. These basket-like structures include a generally rectangular wireform basket with pivotal handles that can be positioned over the basket to carry the basket about the court or to a second position depending downwardly to support the basket spaced above the court that permit the instructor to pick balls out of the basket and hit them to the student or the player practicing on the other side of the net.
The bottom walls of these baskets, at least in one specific type, include a plurality of generally horizontal parallel wires that are spaced from one another less than the diameter of the ball that when pushed downwardly over the tennis balls, squeeze the balls and permit them to enter into the basket yet prevents them from falling out of the basket.
While these ball pick-up baskets have had a considerable commercial success, they are difficult to use because they become quite heavy when loaded with balls and cause significant fatigue after many hours of daily training common to tennis instructors. The instructors"" energies are better utilized in the actual training exercises rather than in walking around the court carrying this basket and picking up literally dozens of tennis balls.
A patentability search pertaining to the present invention had been previously conducted and yielded the following patents:
The Perez, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,504 discloses a tennis ball retriever and carrier with a plurality of wheels 30, 32, 34, and 36 that support the carrier above the ground less than xc2xd the radius of the tennis ball. In order to capture the tennis balls off the court""s surface, the user has to tip the container backwards on one set of wheels and then tilt the container back down on top of the balls. This creates the possibility of the balls squirting forwardly out from under the tilted container.
The German Derwent Publications, Ltd., DE 4020-991-A, shows a tennis ball collector and pick up device similar to the Perez, et al. on a frame with wheels.
The Ferrier, U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,765; the McCrea, U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,693; and the Kaiser, II, U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,029, all show spring-biased wheels on devices that are non-analogous to tennis ball pick-up devices.
The Jackle, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,200, shows a device for implanting a tee ball in the earth.
The Campbell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,996, shows a wheelless tennis ball retriever that has vertically movable and spring-biased pick-up bars.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a tennis ball holder and retriever that ameliorates the problems noted above.
According to the present invention, a tennis ball holder and retriever is provided that is easily movable about the tennis court and thereby reduces training and instructor fatigue. This is accomplished with the provision of four swivel caster assemblies at the corners of a generally rectangular wireform basket-like structure.
The bottom wall of the basket-like structure is designed to pick up tennis balls when pushed downwardly on the balls. The swivel caster assemblies have small diameter wheels that are mounted at the corners of the basket-like structure. The small diameter wheels permit the wheels and their associated assemblies to be mounted very closely to the basket-like structure and provide a much more compact design.
The swivel caster assemblies each include downwardly biased telescopic tubular assemblies that are fixed to the corners of the basket-like assembly that position the basket above the balls for rolling movement about the court yet permit the basket-like structure to be depressed to its ball pick up position.
The telescopic tubular assemblies each include an upper tubular portion fixed to the basket-like structure with a wireform bracket that has a circular portion surrounding and fixed to the upper tubular portion and a pair of leg portions that are generally perpendicular and fixed to the basket-like structure. The telescopic tubular assemblies also include a lower tubular rod portion slidable in the upper tubular portion that has a pin fixed thereto that slides in a slot in the upper tubular portion limiting downward movement of the lower rod portion from the upper tubular portion.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description.